Experimental evidence for adaptive divergence in response to a warmed habitat reveals roles for morphology, allometry, and parasite resistance

Smith, B., Costa, A. P.B., Kristjansson, B. K. and Parsons, K. J. (2024) Experimental evidence for adaptive divergence in response to a warmed habitat reveals roles for morphology, allometry, and parasite resistance. Ecology and Evolution, 14(2), e10907. (doi: 10.1002/ece3.10907) (PMID:38333102) (PMCID:PMC10850817)

Abstract

Ectotherms are expected to be particularly vulnerable to climate change–driven increases in temperature. Understanding how populations adapt to novel thermal environments will be key for informing mitigation plans. We took advantage of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations inhabiting adjacent geothermal (warm) and ambient (cold) habitats to test for adaptive evolutionary divergence using a field reciprocal transplant experiment. We found evidence for adaptive morphological divergence, as growth (length change) in non-native habitats related to head, posterior and total body shape. Higher growth in fish transplanted to a non-native habitat was associated with morphological shape closer to native fish. The consequences of transplantation were asymmetric with cold sourced fish transplanted to the warm habitat suffering from lower survival rates and greater parasite prevalence than warm sourced fish transplanted to the cold habitat. We also found divergent shape allometries that related to growth. Our findings suggest that wild populations can adapt quickly to thermal conditions, but immediate transitions to warmer conditions may be particularly difficult.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: We are also grateful to the Fisheries Society of the British Isles for funding awarded to BAS via a PhD studentship. Funding was also provided by a NERC highlights topic grant (NE/N016734/1) awarded to KJP.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kristjansson, Professor Bjarni and Parsons, Dr Kevin and Smith, Bethany

Creator Roles

Smith, B.: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Kristjansson, B.: Conceptualization, Investigation, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review and editing
Parsons, K.: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Smith, B., Costa, A. P.B., Kristjansson, B. K., and Parsons, K. J.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Ecology and Evolution
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 2045-7758
• ISSN (Online): 2045-7758
• Published Online: 07 February 2024
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2024 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Ecology and Evolution 14(2):e10907
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
172724		The predictability and limits of evolution to increased temperature: insights from a natural 'experiment'	Kevin Parsons	Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)	NE/N016734/1	Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine